Crimson Fate
740 Words
Morning came as beautifully as it always did after a cruel night but those who would behold it sometimes were simply just the lucky ones.
My eyes were startled awake by our taskmaster's kicking, not of me, but of the slave that slept next to me that night.
Spitting on the ground, Maruduk, the bane of our existence said to himself, "Tch! He's dead. Another wasted investment." To himself because it was long since drilled into us that we did not have the capacity to comprehend matters beyond our duties, much less those of our taskmaster.
The sight I woke up to however, stuck with me more than the others. The previous night was not anything special in particular so it seemed he died of the cold but at the sight of his expressionless eyes which were slightly open I gazed into my fate.. destined to come sooner or later that led me to question everything.
Was it worth it trying to escape? Failure of which resulted into the worst possible death for the purpose of relaying an example. Was it worth living on in subservience? Under which I would inevitably meet my own peril, which lived and breathed in all the conditions and circumstances about my everyday life.
Or would I pretend that I saw nothing? That I see nothing and therefore nothing matters in the end because all in my predicament will return to nothing's embrace, below the ground that was drunk on young men's blood.. below the ground that would soon forget it's taste.. and request for more of it..
Below the ground upon which I laid my head enduring its whispers of how it longed for my return.. of how I would never be able to grasp the sky.. for all that tried, eventually came back down..
Upon the ground my head was pressed against by the taskmaster's foot for spacing out..
"Do you wish to join his sleep, slave? HUH!!??"
"N-n-no Master," I replied to which he commanded me to get up and get to work. There was nothing cordial about this man, nothing sympathetic, nothing that even seemed remotely human really. He was to us simply the manifestation of rage and b*****e, an existence I somewhat pitied, for at times it seemed he would not be able to continue overseeing us had he not been this way.
Everyone raised free hated us, almost like they were taught to, for at times we had to travel to other places owned by the Vesto household, places to cultivate and we were always met with jeers and glances of disgust that were like dancing razers in the heart.. since we too were human.
From young even to old we were despised and at times we were pelted with stones and yet in the midst of all this, one among us seemed undaunted by it all, Hasan.
Nudging me with his elbow he said, "When are you gonna get used to this huh? If this is your fate like you said, " smiling, "Embrace it!"
I knew then that his smile was more for me than it was genuine because knowing his nature, he despised this state the most but watching my inner turmoil from a glance deduced I was not myself...
"If you give up now, those days won't come, for neither of us."
Jolting me back to reality I shook my head in disappointment and smacked the back of his, "Where do you get the confidence to voice such useless drivel?"
We basically laughed it off and before I knew it I had forgotten everything that happened since morning because we all knew for a fact that forgetfulness in this case meant survival.
I guess I hardly need to mention the taskmaster's reaction to us when we made merry since this is how we lived from day to day.
That was the balance in our world, where slaves and the free seemed to both live in completely different realms and as long as that existed nothing more or less changed in our lives...
That's before the 'Shaking', that would soon upset that delicate balance and swiftly change the rules that governed our lands. At times I wish it never happened because as long as we obeyed we were assured a fair amount of certainty but at that point, nothing was certain. One could very well say, that certainty, was all but thrown out of the window.
- Writer
